What does Darwin have to do with terracotta warriors, samurai armies, or Napoleon’s conquests? Quite a lot. Or at least this is what I argue in a paper I finished back in April. I anticipated refining it with extra research in the months since then. This hope was not realized. Other projects have consumed my […]
Category Archives: Europa Regina
A Few More Thoughts on the Terrors of Pre-Modern Battle
Image Source. Yesterday’s post, “Pre-Modern Battlefields Were Absolutely Terrifying,” has proven immensely popular. The sheer number of responses to it on social media, web forums, and other websites has been a bit overwhelming. My favorite of these was written by Lynn Rees, co-blogger over at Zenpundit. In a personal message to me he describes how […]
Signal Like Its 1711: James Addison on Partisan Signaling, 18th Century Style
Portrait of Joseph Addison (1672-1719), by Godfrey Kneller, c. 1712 Image source: Wikimedia I sometimes complain that 21st century American political culture has been hijacked by hyper-partisan signaling. It is easy to forget that this is not a new complaint. You can find political signaling spirals rearing their ugly head many times in humanity’s past–at […]
Notes From All Over (8/1/14): Tech Giants, Asian Media, and Japanese History
A collection of articles, essays, and blog post of merit. TOP BILLING “The State of Consumer Technology at the End of 2014“Ben Thompson, Stratechery (16 December 2014). One of the defining characteristics of the three major epochs of consumer computing β PC, Internet, and mobile β is that they have been largely complementary: we didnβt […]
Notes From all Over (14/09/14): China’s Economy, Samurai, and Adam Tooze’s Take on Europe
A collection of articles, essays, and blog post of merit. TOP BILLING “What Does a “Good” Adjustment Look Like?“ Michael Pettis, China’s Financial Markets (1 September 2014). This essay is long but excellent. It is also the best thing I have read about the Chinese economy in months. Two quotes to give readers the flavor of […]
“The Russian Strategy for Empire”
“The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be.” – Ecclesiastes 1:9 [1] Over the last few weeks the sections of the blogosphere which I frequent have been filled with predictions, advice, summaries of, and idle chatter about the situation in Ukraine and Crimea. I have refrained from commenting on these events for […]
Another Look at ‘The Rise of the West’ – But With Better Numbers
Why the West? I do not think there is any other historical controversy that has so enthralled the public intellectuals of our age. The popularity of the question can probably be traced to Western unease with a rising China and the ease with which the issue can be used as proxy war for the much […]
Notes From All Over (August 2013) Wars, Graphs, and Biospheres
A collection of articles, essays, and blog post of merit. TOP BILLING “How To Lose a War: A Primer“Mark Safranski. Zenpundit.com. 28 July 2013. Since Pakistan is now attempting to get its victory over the United States in Afghanistan formally ratified, now seemed to be a good time to reflect on the performance of American […]
Emmanuel Todd’s Theory of Modernity
In my review of Michael Lotus and James Bennett’s America 3.0 I stated that French anthropologist Emmanuel Todd (whose work is cited extensively in said work) “is the most under-rated “big idea” thinker in the field of world history.” Craig Willy’s most recent blog post explains why: “Emmanuel Toddβs Lβinvention de lβEurope: A critical summary“Craig Willy. […]
The Rise of the West: Asking the Right Questions
Early last month Peter Turchin published a couple of posts on whether or not the “Great Divergence” (sometimes called the ‘Rise of the West’ or ‘the European Miracle’) can be approached scientifically. Both posts were excellent, and as is usual at Professor Turchin’s place, the comment thread that followed the posts was of exceptional quality. […]